Feeder for stacks of nested containers



Oct. 17, 1950 w. A. FERBER 2 14 FEEDER FOR STACKS OF NESTED CONTAINERS Filed Dec. 8, 1948 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fly 1 lm'm null" JNVENTOR.

w. A. FERBER 2,526,014

6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FEEDER FOR STACKS 0F NESTED CONTAINERS Filed Dec. 8, 1948 Oct. 17, 1950- w. A." FERBER 2,526,014

FEEDER FOR STACKS 0F NESTED CONTAINERS Filed Dec. 8, 1948 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR.

a. luk/ Oct. 17, 1950 w. A. FERBER FEEDER FOR STACKS OF NESTED CONTAINERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 8, 1948 3' Ill INVENTOR.

Oct. 17, 1950 w. A. FERBER 2,526,014

FEEDER FOR STACKS 0F NESTED CONTAINERS Filed Dec. 8, 1948 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 m N N S Oct. 17, 1950 w. A. FERBER 2,526,014

FEEDER FOR STACKS 0F NESTED CONTAINERS Patented Got. 17, 1950 FEEDER FOR STAOKS OF NESTED CONTAINERS William A. Ferber, Flushing, N. Y., assignor to Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 8, 1948, Serial No. 64,188

8 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for feeding stacks of containers, and more particularly for feeding said stacks successively to a given horizontal position and in register with a predetermined vertical axis. The invention is especially adapted to feed said stacks to a dispenser unit, operating upon a stack of containers to dispense individual containers from the bottom of a stack in timed relation to the diminution of a stack of containers in said dispenser.

Individual dispenser mechanisms are used, for example, as a means of dispensing individual con tainers for operating on said containers, such as in waxin machines where individual containers are dropped ontoa conveyor chain which carries them through a paraffine bath or spray. The feeding of fresh stacks to said dispensers has been a serious problem in such an environment where the related mechanism otherwise is essentially automatic. While automatic stack feedin means in general is known for dispensing cups the stack magazine of such devices in which the axes of the stacks are vertical entailed loading difficulties in that such magazines could not be readily or economically loaded with the facility required for high and continuous operative speeds; and such mechanism is not well suited to withstand the rugged requirements of a high speed machine such as a waxer.

An object of the present invention is to provide a stack feeder which may be readily and efficiently loaded, or supplied with a plurality of stacks, and which will feed successive stacks from said supply in proper timed relation.

Another object is to provide a simple and dependable apparatus adapted to be used in conjunction with mechanism operating at a high speed and continuously over long periods of time.

The invention, in particular, relates to means operating in timed relation to a dispenser unit and under control of a feeler finger associated with said dispenser in such a manner as to insure a positive and dependable supply of nested containers to said dispenser at all times, and therefore avoid any gap in the continuous delivery of cups by said dispenser.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view, partly in section, of parts of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, to more clearly illustrate certain details;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged front elevational view, partly in section, of parts of the mechanism 2 shown in Fig. 3 to better illustrate certain details;

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of the device shown in previous figures; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged end elevational view, partly in section, showing further details of parts of the mechanism shown in Fig. 5.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1, 3 and 5: a table or runway l0 suitably reinforced by angle irons such as ll (Fig. 5) supported at its rear tapered block [2 carried on the upper ends of a pair of rear :posts (Fig. 3) 13-44 and at its front end by a transversely extending supporting member I5 (Fig. 5) which is carried on the upper end of a pair of brackets l6-l'l supported on the rear ends of respective bars l8-l9 (Fig. 3) whose forward ends are secured to a supporting plate 26 which is mounted on and secured to a front post 2!. The runway In is provided with guide rails 22-23 extending in spaced relation across the runway It] in the direction from the rear toward the front (Fig. 3) and provided with outwardly flaring rear ends to facilitate the placing of stacks S of containers on the runway H]. The rail 22 extending fore and aft in a direction perpendicular to the front edge of the runway and the rail 23 being disposed at an angle to the rail 22 so as to converge toward the rail 22 at its forward end; so that stacks S passing downwardly along the rail 23 will be directed against the rail 22 at its forward end. The rail 23 is preferably mounted so as to be adjustable in a lateral direction to accommodate varying lengths of stacks S; such as by a pair of brackets 24 provided with threaded studs, such as 25, (Fig. 5) passing through slots 26-21, provided in the runway plate l0, and engaged by cooperating nuts such as 28. The rail 22 is similarly supported by a pair of brackets 29 (Figs. 1 and 3) similarly adjustably mounted on plate H] by means of slots 3ll3l.

A stop plate shaft 32 (Fig. 3) is supported by end bearings 33-44, securelyattached to plate 20, so as to provide for angular movement of the shaft 32. A pair of stop plate stem supports such as 35 are rigidly secured to the shaft 32 adjacent the inner faces of supports (iii-36 and are provided (Fig. 6) with plate stems, such as 36, provided on their outer ends with supports, such as 31, which carry rigidly fixed thereto a stop plate 38 notched at its upper edge to provide tongues 38' which are disposed in register with cooperating slots Ill formed in the lower edge of the table In. An operating lever 39 (Figs. 5 and 6) is rigidly secured to the shaft 32 and is provided with a forwardly extending arm 39 to which is attached the upper end of a helical tension spring 2! whose lower end is anchored to a pin G2 extending downwardly from and adjustably secured to the plate 22). The lever 39 carries an oppositely extending engageable portion i3 (Fig. 6) engageable by the rounded face of a screw 14 which is adjustably mounted in a block i (Fig. 5) carried by the movable feed arm to be more particularly referred to following. It ill be seen from Fig. 6 that the tension spring ii normally holds the stop plate 38 in raised position to prevent the stacks S from moving downwardly beyond the edge of the runway it, and that upon engagement of the arm it by the screw i l the shaft 32 is rotated so as to move the stop plate 38 to its inactive position, indicated in broken lines.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 6: the block which carries the screw M- ior operative engagement with the lever end is rigidly secured to a feed arm designated in general as 46. The feed arm it comprises an arm member ll extending substantally parallel to the lower edge of the runway or table it} and carrying rigidly secured thereto a plurality of carrier fingers, such as spaced apart along the member so as to fall in register with the slots i i, on the outside of the stop plate 38, and of such width as to fit freely therein. lhe fingers l8 are provided with arcuate concave upper surfaces to conform with the generally cylindrical stack S periphery, so that sad staci may be cradled therein. The inner end of the member i? is rigidly secured to a supporting hub d9-the members 19, 8 and d? preferably being made of aluminum for lightness. The hub it) is keyed or otherwise securely fastened to one end of a rack gear shaft 5-9 journaled in bearing portions 5l-52 formed integrally with a rack slide bracket designated in general as supported on and r gidly secured to plate 2G. The outer end of shaft to carries rigidly secured thereto, as by a pin 5 a feed arm limit stop 55. Fixed arms are provided on the bracket 53 and carry adiustably secured therein, respectively, stop screws ta ee (Fig. i) for limiting the rotation of the shaft 5%, so as to adjust the position of the fee-d arm 56 in the vert'cal and horizontal positions desired at the respectively opposi e limits of its movement.

A pinion gear [iii (Figs. 6 and 4) is secured to the shaft 553, as by means of a pin 6!, and is in driven mesh with a gear rack 62 which is slidably mounted in a guideway formed in the bracket 53. Slide plates, such as E5354, (see also Fig. 2) are disposed over the rack 62 and are secured to the bracket 53 to form therewith an enclosed guide for the rack Preferably the cover guard (55 is provided to enclose the pinion gear and is fixed in position, as by being secured to the slide plates est-st. It will thus be seen that upon reciprocation of the 1 62 the gear 68 is caused to rotate and the feed arm is is caused to be moved in a vertical plane throughout its cycle of operation, i. e., from a horizontal postion (Figs. 1, 3 and 5) where it receives a stack S to a vertical position (as shown in Figs. 2, a and 6) where it delivers said stack to a dispenser for dispensing individual contaners. Such a dispenser is indicated in broken lines in Fig. 2 as 65 and may be of any suitable type, preferably of the well known screw or worm feed type which upon each actuation cycle separates and delivers the lowermost cup of a stack and returns to a condition to deliver the next succeeding cup; such actuation for example being effected by reciprocation of an engageable handle, such as 5?. In the present environment of the invention the handle 6? being engaged by a member which is reciprocated in predetermined time relation. In order that the individual container dispenser 65 will be continuously supplied with containers it is desirable that the stack feeder supply a fresh stack of containers to the dispenser before the previously fed stack is completely dispensed and, accordingly, when a fresh stack is supplied the dispenser will still contain a predetermined number of containers to which the full stack has been reduced. In order to determine when th s predetermined extent of stack depletion in the dispenser has been reached a feeler finger is employed in the manner well known in the art. Such a feeler finger is indicated in Fig. 2 as $8 and forms a part of a suitble electrical switch designated as 69. As is well known to those skilled in this ieeler fingers, such as 63, are in the path of movement of the containers, such as C, in the stack in such manner that when the inner end of the feeler finger is engaged by the outer diameter of the containers the switch in inactive position and wh n the co tainers have passed vertically downwardly be... Joe feeler finger t8 the swtch is activated, i. e, an electrical circuit through the switch is closed. electrical circuit is utilized in the present embodiment to actuate the mechanism for con rolling the recprocation of the rack bar 52 in a me to be more particularly pointed out h alt r. The vertical position of the dispenser so should therefore be disposed below the 1 ane occupied by the lower end of a stack as it is fed into vertical axial alignment w th the dispenser. In Fig. l the vertical position of the dispenser 6'? is indicated in broken outline from which it will be seen that it is disposed an appreciable distance below the lowermost finger 38 of the feed. arm The feeler finger s3 is so positioned vertically that at the time that it is passed by the uppermost cup of diminished stack in the dispenser the upper extremity of said cup is disposed or about a horizontal plane designated A../ 4). This plane being vertically pos tioned slightly below the upper edge of a guide plate 1 9 which. is rigidly secured to and supported from a forwardly extended portion of the runway il The guide plate 'l'i is provided with a substantially vertical lower portion in alignment with the guide rail 22 and preferably extend ng upwardly to a point opposite the center of the shaft 58 and gradually curving upwardly and outwardly, preferably along an arc defined by a radius having its center on the axis of the shaft 55 so as to provide an inclined rising plate along which the bottom of a stack S is guided to a position above the plane A--A. In order to assure vertical alignment of a stack S along the dispensing ax's a dispenser guide is provided comprising vertically extending rods, such as "fl (Figs. 3 and l) secured to and carried by a semi-c cular bracket '52 fixed to and supported by ye ically extending support secured at its lower end to a bracket '56 which rests upon and is secured to the runway supporting strip i5, as by means of a screw it which preferably engages a slot 16 in the bracket is to provide for adjustment. Preferably a vertical guard plate (Figs. 1, 3 and 5) is disposed over the lower margin of the table Iii above the path of stacks S and substantially parallel and adjacent to the path or" movement of the feeder arm 3%. The guard El bein Supp at one end on the face of the dispenser guide member l3 and on the other end by a bracket 18' corresponding to the bracket 14 and similarly mounted opposite thereto on the other end of the member l5, (Figs. 1 and 3); The guard 11 preferably is a sheet of transparent plastic such as Vinylite.

Actuating means In the present embodiment the gear rack 62 (Figs, 1 and 2) is reciprocated by a pneumatic motor i9, preferably of the double acting bellows type actuated by compressed air and having a piston 80 whose outer end is securely fastened to the gear rack 62. Introduction of air pressure into the motor i at each operating cycle causing the piston 80 to be moved to the right on the power stroke to thereby rotate the pinion gear 50 in an anti-clockwise direction, which in turn moves the feed arm 45 from its horizontal receiving position to its vertical delivering position; and then causing the piston and the gear rack 62 and feed arm to be returned to their initial position. The air pressure is supplied to the motor from any suitable source (not shown) and its introduction into the motor is controlled by a suitable valve actuated by an electrical solenoid energized by an electrical circuit under the control of the electrical switch 59, all of which control mechanism being well known in the art is not shown on the annexed drawings.

Operation Referring more particularly to Fig. 5: it will be seen that with the feed arm 46 in the horizontal or receiving position adjacent the lower feed edge of the runway in the foremost stack S has moved from the table IE] onto the feed fingers 48, at which time the stop plate 38 is depressed to its lower inactive position by means of the pressure exerted on the arm end 43 (Fig. 6, dotted position). As the feed arm 46 commences to move upwardly the feed plate 38 is moved to the solid line position of Fig. 6 serving to prevent the next succeeding stack S from passing off the lower edge of the runway iii. When the feed arm it continues its upward movement the inner end of the stack is guided upwardly and over the rising plate 10 (Figs. 3 and 4) and the stack is moved across the upper edge of plate 70 and into vertical alignment with the dispenser axis B--B, such alignment being assured by the dispenser guide rods H. As soon as the stack has been delivered to the dispenser axis the feed arm moves back to its horizontal or receiving position, the stop plate 38 is depressed to thereby permit the next stack to pass from the runway ID onto the feed arm 46 and the mechanism is ready for the start of the next cycle, the commencement of which is determined by the feeder finger 68.

Having thus described my invention with particularity with reference to its preferred form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my, invention, that other changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and I aim in the appended claims to cover such changes and modifications as are within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a dispenser having an upwardly disposed intake throat and a vertical axis for delivering from a stack of nested containers individual containers in a vertical direction, mechanism for feeding said nested stacks of containers to said dispenser comprising a stack feeder having an inner end adjacent to but offset from said dispenserand supported for movement in a substantially vertical plane passing through the axis of said dispenser, actuating mechanism for moving said feeder from a horizontal receiving position to a vertical delivering position, a conveyor for delivering successive stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said feeder, and an inclined rising plate guide extending from adjacent the inner end of said feeder when in horizontal position upwardly and toward said dispenser and terminating in a plane above said dispenser intake throat.

2. In combination with a dispenser having a vertical axis for delivering from a stack of nested containers individual containers in a vertical direction, mechanism for feeding said nested stacks of containers to saiddispenser comprising a stack feeder having an inner end adjacent to but offset from said dispenser and supported for movement in a direction substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through the axis of said dispenser, actuating mechanism for moving said feeder from a horizontal receiving position to a vertical delivering position, and a conveyor for delivering successive of said stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said feeder, said conveyor comprising an inclined runway for holding a plurality of said stacks of nested containers and guiding them to a lower edge, the lower edge of said table being disposed in delivering alignment with said feeder when the latter is in its receiving position.

3. In combination with a dispenser having a vertical axis for delivering from a stack of nested containers individual containers in a vertical direction, mechanism for feeding said nested stacks of containers to said dispenser comprising a stack feeder having an inner end adjacent to but offset from said dispenser and supported for movement in a plane substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through the axis of said dispenser, said feeder comprising an elongated arm having secured thereto a plurality of transversely extending fingers spaced apart longitudinally and providing aligned arcuate upper faces serving to cradle a said stack of nested receptacles, actuating mechanism for moving said feeder from a horizontal receiving position to a vertical delivering position, a conveyor for delivering succes- ;sive of said stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said feeder, and an inclined rising plate guide extending from adjacent the inner end of said feed-er when in horizontal position upwardly and toward said dispenser and terminating in a plane above the intake throat of said dispenser.

4. In combination with a dispenser havin a vertical axis for delivering from a stack of nested containers individual containers in a vertical direction, mechanism for feeding said stacks to said dispenser comprising a stack feeder having an inner end adjacent to but offset from said dispenser and supported for movement in a plane substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through the axis of said dispenser, said feeder comprising an elongated arm having secured thereto a plurality of transversely extending fingers spaced apart longitudinally and providing aligned arcuate upper faces serving to cradle a said stack of nested receptacles, actuating mechanism for moving said. feeder from a horizontal receiving position to a vertical delivering position, and a conveyor for delivering successive of said stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said feeder, said conveyor comprising an inclined runway for holding a plurality of said stacks and guiding them to a lower edge, the lower edge of said table being disposed in delivering alignment with said feeder when the latter is in its receiving position.

5. In combination with a dispenser having a vertical axis for delivering from a stack of nested containers individual containers in a vertical direction, mechanism for feeding said stacks to said dispenser comprising a stack feeder having an inner end adjacent to but offset from said dispenser and supported for movement in a substantially vertical plane passing through the axis of said dispenser, said feeder comprising an elongated arm having a concave receiving extension serving to cradle a said stack of nested receptacles, actuating mechanism for moving said feeder from a horizontal receiving position to a vertical delivering position, a conveyor for delivering successive stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said feeder, said conveyor com prising an inclined runway for holding a plurality of said stacks and guiding them to a lower edge, the lower edge of said table being disposed in delivering alignment with said feeder when the latter is in its receiving position. a stop plate mounted for movement to respective active and inactive positions into and out of the path of movement of said st clrs from the lower edge of said runway to said feeder, and mechanism for moving said stop plate in coo erative timed relation to the feeder actuation.

6. In a device having a container dispenser for feeding individual containers from a stack of nested containers disposed along a vertical axiswith the lowermost end of said stack at the intake throat of said dispenser, a feeler finger disposed in the path of movement of the rims of containers of said stack a spaced distance above said intake throat, an electrical control circuit under the influence of said feeler finger, the combination with said dispenser of stack feeding mechanism comprising a runway provided with guide means for delivering successive stacks in a horizontal position at a feeder station with the axis of said stack substantially coplanar with said vertical dispenser axis, a stack feeder disposed at said station to receive individual of said stacks and pivotally mounted at its inner end for angular movement about an axis substantially normal to said dispenser axis, a drive train for moving said feeder from a horizontal to a vertical position, and motive means for actuating said drive train under control of said control circuit.

'7. In a mechanism having a container dispenser for feeding individual containers from a stack of nested containers disposed along a vertical axis with the lowermost end of said stack at the intake throat of said dispenser, a feeler finger disposed in the path of movement of the rims of containers of said stack a spaced distance above said intake throat so as to be actuated when a stack reaches a predetermined state of depletion when its upper end reaches a predetermined horizontal plane, an electrical control circuit under the influence of said feeler finger, the combination with said dispenser of stack feeding mechanism comprising a runway provided with guid means for delivering successive stacks in a horizontal position at a feeder station, a stack feeder disposed at said station to receive individual of said stacks and pivotally mounted at its inner end for angular movement in a plane substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through said dispenser axis, a drive train for moving said feeder from a horizontal to a vertical position, motive means for actuating said drive train under control of said control circuit, and a stack riser disposed in the path of movement of the bottom of said stack during its feeding movement for positioning the bottom of said stack above said predetermined horizontal plane, whereby said stack may fall in nested continuation on top of said depleted stack in said dispenser.

8.. Apparatus for successively feeding nested stacks of containers to a predetermined vertical axis of cup dispenser with the stack bottom disposed at a predetermined horizontal plane comprising in combination a said dispenser, a stack erector having an inner end pivotally mounted adjacent to but offset from said axis below said plane and supported for movement in a plane substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through said axis, actuating mechanism for moving said erector from a horizontal receiving position to a substantially vertical delivering position in substantial alignment with said axis, a conveyor for delivering successive stacks in a substantially horizontal position to said erector, and an inclined rising plate guide extending from adjacent the inner pivoted end of said erector when in horizontal position upwardly and toward said dispenser and terminating in spaced relation to said axis and in a plane above said horizontal plane.

'WILLIAM FERBER.

E-LEFERENCES CETED FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Norway Feb. 11, 1929 Number 

